Acting President Choi calls on gov't agencies to avoid violence during Yoon arrest attempt

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Acting President Choi calls on gov't agencies to avoid violence during Yoon arrest attempt

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI


Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, left, smiles and he shakes hands with acting President Choi Sang-mok at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Jan. 13. [NEWS1]

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, left, smiles and he shakes hands with acting President Choi Sang-mok at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Jan. 13. [NEWS1]

 
Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday called on government agencies to avoid physical conflict over efforts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, warning that the country's constitutional order could be "unwashably stained" if violence were to occur.
 
Yoon is the subject of an arrest warrant filed by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3, but the Presidential Security Service blocked the CIO and police from taking him into custody on Jan. 3.
 
According to a press release from the Finance Ministry, Choi said that “all attempts to carry out the law should take place peacefully and with restraint,” adding that “violent means should never be employed by government institutions.”
 
The acting president further called on the chiefs of relevant agencies to “maintain sufficient communication” with each other to “maintain order and prevent physical clashes” that could endanger the safety of government personnel trying to carry out their orders.
 
His comments came the same day that the liberal Democratic Party (DP) railroaded a bill to establish a special counsel probe into Yoon’s martial law decree through the parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which clears draft legislation for voting by the National Assembly.
 
An earlier version of the special counsel bill was scrapped last week after falling just two votes short of the requisite two-thirds of lawmakers to overcome Choi’s veto.
 

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The new bill entrusts the Supreme Court chief justice with the task of recommending two candidates for the special counsel post, leaving the final choice to the acting president.
 
It also does not allow the DP or other liberal parties to request a new candidate should they oppose the chief justice’s picks.  
 
The changes appear aimed at convincing more lawmakers from the People Power Party (PPP) to defy their party’s stance against a special counsel probe into Yoon.
 
However, the proposed probe now also accuses Yoon of trying to incite war with North Korea to justify declaring martial law, which the DP has characterized as treason.
 
PPP Rep. Park Jun-tae, who walked out of the meeting along with other committee members from his party, called the inclusion of treason allegations against Yoon in the probe a “politically motivated attack that ignores the realities of national security.”
 
“The suggestion that security issues that have arisen over the past year should be probed for treason is capricious and arbitrary,” he said.
 
In an attempt to smooth over tensions between the country’s main political parties, Choi visited the National Assembly on Monday and called on the PPP and DP to cooperate in drafting a special counsel bill that both could agree upon.
 
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, third from right, speaks at a meeting with members of the conservative People Power Party that included interim party leader Rep. Kwon Young-se, second from left, at the National Assembly on Jan. 13. [YONHAP]

Acting President Choi Sang-mok, third from right, speaks at a meeting with members of the conservative People Power Party that included interim party leader Rep. Kwon Young-se, second from left, at the National Assembly on Jan. 13. [YONHAP]

 
During his meeting with Rep. Kwon Young-se, interim leader of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), Choi called for a special counsel probe “that does not contain unconstitutional elements.”
 
Choi previously acceded to Kwon’s request that he veto the earlier bill to appoint a special counsel to look into Yoon’s martial law decree as well as another proposed probe to examine corruption allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee.
 
Choi also met with DP leader Lee Jae-myung and called for cooperation between the government and the National Assembly “to ensure improvements in the economy and the people’s livelihoods.”
 

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
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